206 



CONGREGATIONALISTS. 



the importance of property called ecclesiastical councils 

 ordinarily selected from the vicinage, and especially 

 the great importance of installing ministers to the 

 pastorate by councils where it is practicable and con- 

 ducive to the purity of the ministry and the prosper- 

 ity of the churches. 



Resolved, That the State organizations and local 

 organizations of churches are recommended to consider 

 such modification of their constitution as will enable 

 them to becon>e responsible for the ministerial stand- 

 ing of ministers within their bounds, in harmony with 

 the principle that the churches of any locality decide 

 upon their own fellowship. 



The committee on ministerial supply made a 

 report showing that much of every minister's 

 time was wasted in finding a pastorate, not- 

 withstanding there was always a demand for 

 pastors ; suggesting that a bureau for the pur- 

 pose of finding pastorates for unemployed min- 

 isters might be a useful institution ; citing the 

 fact that many ministers out of employment 

 as pastors were engaged as superintendents, 

 professors, etc., as evidence that not so large a 

 number of ministers were idle as might other- 

 wise seem to be ; and hinting that the reme- 

 dy for ministers staying unemployed might be 

 gained by every minister wishing employment 

 being "willing to go anywhere that the Lord his 

 Master would have him go." A committee was 

 appointed to confer with representatives of the 

 Free- Will Baptist churches on the subject of 

 union, and also " to seek and promote fellow- 

 ship or union with any other body of Chris- 

 tians" ; and a resolution was passed declaring 

 " that we rejoice to acknowledge the fact that 

 all Christians are members of the one Church 

 of Christ, whatever be the form of their or- 

 ganization, and that we will gladly co-operate 

 in every effort to make this fact visible to the 

 world." The attention of Congress and the 

 President of the United States was invited to 

 the urgency of a revision of the laws governing 

 marriage and divorce, particularly in the Dis- 

 trict of Columbia and the Territories; and 

 other denominations were invited to co-operate 

 with the Council in this matter. The employ- 

 ment of evangelists under the direction of State 

 and local conferences and associations, to labor 

 where called for, either by the churches or the 

 needs of destitute localities, was commended 

 and advised; and the theological seminaries 

 were invited to provide a more adequate train- 

 ing of young men for this work. The Council 

 resolved to urge upon Congress " the duty of 

 making immediate payment of all well au- 

 thenticated claims presented by the Chinese, 

 and of making such pecuniary " reparation for 

 loss of life as may seem just ; also that it is 

 the duty of Congress to take measures for the 

 punishment of those who have committed out- 

 rages upon the Chinese, and to take such other 

 action as may seem advisable to render the 

 lives and property of the Chinese as sure as 

 the lives and property of other persons" ; and 

 the Provisional Council was instructed to make 

 a suitable presentation of this subject. Efforts 

 were resolved upon to obtain $50,000 each for 

 the Scandinavian and German departments of 



the Chicago Theological Seminary; the same 

 sum for the Slavic department at Oberlin ; and 

 $100,000 as a "National Council Exigency 

 Loan Fund," for establishing or aiding churches 

 doing mission work in large cities and other 

 important centers of population. A standing 

 committee was appointed to observe the prog- 

 ress of the work of city evangelization. A 

 standing committee on "systematic benefi- 

 cence" was appointed, to promote, by confer- 

 ence and other means, the wise distribution of 

 the offerings of the denomination for mission- 

 ary purposes. 



The "Andover Cases." The preliminary hear- 

 ing against five professors in Andover Theo- 

 logical Seminary viz., Profs. Smyth, Tucker, 

 Churchill, Harris, and Ilincks was begun be- 

 fore the Board of Visitors of the seminary in 

 Boston, Oct. 25. The defendants were charged 

 in the complaint with holding beliefs and hav- 

 ing taught doctrines and theories, and done 

 other things, which " are not in harmony with, 

 but antagonistic to, the constitution and stat- 

 utes of the seminary and the true intention of 

 its founders, as expressed in those statutes " ; 

 also, that they were not men of sound and or- 

 thodox principles in divinity, according to the 

 fundamental and distinguishing doctrines of 

 the gospel, as summarily expressed in the West- 

 minster Assembly's Shorter Catechism, and 

 more particularly expressed in the creed of 

 the seminary. More definitely, the indictment 

 charged them with holding, maintaining, and 

 inculcating 



1. That the Bible is not the only perfect rule of faith 

 and practice, but is fallible and untrustworthy, even 

 in some of its religious teachings. 



2. That Christ, in the days of his humiliation, was 

 merely a finite being, limited in all his attributes, ca- 

 pacities, and attainments. 



3. That no man has power or capacity to repent 

 without knowledge of the historic Christ. 



4. That mankind, save as instructed in the knowl- 

 edge of the historic Christ, are not sinners, or, if they 

 are, not of such sinfulness as to be in danger of being 

 lost. 



5. That no man can be lost without having had 

 knowledge of Christ. 



6. That the atonement of Christ consists essentially 

 and chiefly in his becoming identified with the human 

 race through his incarnation, in order that by his 

 union with men he might endow them with the power 

 to repent, and thus impart to them an augmented 

 value in the view of God, and so propitiate God to 

 men and men to God. 



7. That the Trinity is modal and not personal. 



8. That the work of the Holy Spirit is mainly lim- 

 ited to natural methods and within historic Chris- 

 tianity. 



9._ That, without the knowledge of the historic 

 Christ, men do not deserve the punishment of the 

 law, and that, therefore, their salvation is not " wholly 

 of grace." 



10. That faith ought to be scientific and natural, 

 rather than scriptural. 



11. That there is and will be probation after death 

 for all men who have not in this world had knowledge 

 of the historic Christ. 



12. That this hypothetical belief in probation after 

 death should be brought to the front, exalted, and 

 made central in theology and in the beliefs of men. 



13. That Christian missions are not to be supported 

 and conducted on the ground that men who know not 



